U.S. & Canadian Authors - Interviews, Poetic Theory, Poets - Interviews, Poetry Writing, U.S. & Canadian Poetry - 20th Century - Literary Criticism

Range of the Possible

Name: Range of the Possible
Author: Tod Marshall
ISBN: 9780910055789

by Tod Marshall

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Overview

These penetrating conversations with poets explore not only the landscape of contemporary poetry but the aesthetic, political, and spiritual textures of America and the world as expressed in language.

This varied gathering ranges from a former United States Poet Laureate and winners of many of Americaís most prestigious literary prizes to lesser-known yet equally accomplished writers. Among the 20 participating poets are Robert Hass, Linda Bierds, Ed Hirsch, Dorianne Laux, Yusef Komunyakaa, Gillian Conoley, Li-Young Lee, Lucia Perillo, Robert Wrigley, Dave Smith, and David St. John. Interesting and compelling, these voices offers a stimulating, informative, and profoundly moving poet's-eye-view of contemporary art and life.

About the Author:
Tod Marshallís interviews, essays, and poetry have been widely published. He lives in Spokane, Washington, and teaches at Gonzaga University.

About the Author, Tod Marshall

TOD MARSHALL's interviews, essays, and poetry have been widely published. He received his M.F.A. degree from Eastern Washington University and his Ph.D. from The University of Kansas. He lives in Spokane, Washington, and teaches at Gonzaga University.

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Editorials

Library Journal

Starting with the assumption that "the work of the poets born mid-century announce a diasporic rather than lineal legacy," Marshall (Gonzaga Univ.) compiled these interviews with a selection of U.S. poets born between 1941 and 1959. Based in the Northwest, he takes a particular perspective; all but one of the poets in the collection teach, and almost all were born west of the Mississippi. Despite his thoroughly modern premise, Marshall does ask about lineal legacies and American literary history, but most of his questions focus on poetic sensibility and political inclusion. The resulting exchanges are more casually cerebral than personal or profound. The nice thing about the alphabetical arrangement is that it gives the final word to one of Robert Wrigley's observations: "All the stuff about factions, about prizes, about poetry's role in culture seems to me to be distractions from that essential relationship between the poet and the language and the language's ability to plumb the human enterprise." The Range of the Possible is pleasant enough reading; it does have some range, and Wrigley is right. Though the book is in no way couched as a regional survey, it is recommended for libraries where there is interest in contemporary American poets emerging from the West or a need to balance the collection. Scott Hightower, Fordham Univ., New York City Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Marshall interviewed the 20 poets over the course of a decade, but generally asked them the same questions in order to maintain consistency and focus. The topics pivot around his own interests, among them poetry and religion, Modernism, and the shaping of a poetic line. There is no index or bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)